Prefabricated dog-house



es. 2?, 1955 A. M. GANT PREFABRICATED DOG-HOUSE Filed May 17, 1950 grwmvkyu:

Andrew M. Gan k United States Patent 2,728,114 PREFABRICATED DOG-HOUSE Andrew M. Gant, Nashville, Tenn.

Application May 17, 1950, Serial No. 162,478 1 Claim. (Cl. 20-2) My invention relates to a prefabricated dog-house.

Heretofore dog-houses have been custom-built, usually at great expense, and by persons lacking knowledge of dog physiology and psychology, and the resultant prodnot has too often been mechanically and esthetically unsatisfactory.

It is accordingly an object of my invention to produce a dog-house scientifically designed to provide maximum health and comfort for a dog.

A further object is to supply such a dog-house at a relatively low cost, by prefabricating the Wall, floor and roof sections, for shipping of the parts knocked-down, and providing a simple but elfective construction whereby assemblage is made quick and easy.

It is a further object of my invention to make a doghouse which is easy to disassemble for cleaning, disinfecting, airing, or repair or replacement of parts.

With the foregoing objects in view, together with such other objects and advantages as may subsequently appear, the invention resides in the parts and in the combination, construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of the assembled dog-house,

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the house, roof overhanging the front wall,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial sectional plan view of the Wall-corner construction taken on the line 3-3 of Fig.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical partial sectional View taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of the roof and wall junctions taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

showing the Detailed description My improved prefabricated dog-house consists of front and rear walls 1 and 2, prefabricated of clapboard assembled by fastening a central upright or stud 3 and two laterally located uprights 4 to the inner surface-of each wall, as by nails 11. The two side walls 6 are also formed of clapboards assembled by fastening vertical studs 7 near the ends of the boards, by nails n or the like.

The wall panels are made quickly and easily attachable and detachable by the special slide-fitting corner construction illustrated in Fig. 3, which is a sectional plan view of the left rear corner of the dog-house of Fig. 1. First, the strips 5 are made wider than the thickness of the side walls 6, to overlap, for a short distance, the front and back wall-panels. The inner faces of the overlapping portions are provided with tongue-receiving grooves or channels 8, receiving the tongue-forming strips 9 nailed to the vertical edges of the faces of the front and back walls. The lateral edges of strips 7 are spaced the thickness of the clapboards from the strips 5 to form channels to receive the edges of walls 1 and 2. Tongues 9 in grooves 8 prevent the edges of walls 1 and 2 from pulling laterally out of channels 10. Studs 4 by abutting studs 7, as shown, add to the strength and rigidity of the corner connections.

The floor F (Fig. 4) is formed by nailing flooring boards 11 to strips 12 and extending at right angles thereto. Strips 12 hold the floor boards assembled and also provide air-spaces 13 between the floor and the ground (or other supporting surface). The floor closely fits within the house and serves further to brace the walls against relative angular movement. The wall studs are cut off above the bottom edge of the wall panels a distance sufiicient to allow the walls to drop down over the floor platform almost, but not quite, to the ground level, with the bottom ends of the studs resting upon the floor surface and with a part (12a) of strips 12 extending below the bottom edges of the wall panels.

The roof (Fig. 5) is made in two sections, each formed by nailing roofing boards 14 to rafters 15 spaced from each other the distance from the face of the front wall to the face of the rear wall. Swinging rafters 16, nailed to the edges of the roofing boards add strength and esthetic value to the construction. The roof panels overhang the front wall of the dog-house a considerable distance to provide shelter for the door.

Each roof section is covered by a weather-proof roofing paper nailed to the panels along all the edges except the ridge edge. At the ridge edge the paper is cut long and is left loose for overlapping with a similar flap 22 on the abutting panel. These flaps may be cemented or nailed down after assemblage, if desired, or may be pressed down and left unfastened, for easy disassemblage.

Each of the four rafters 15 is provided with a single centrally located counter-sunk screw-receiving bore 25 (Fig. 5) whereby each panel may be held securely by two screws 26, one entering each of the front and rear walls, as shown.

The door opening is preferably provided with a sill and jamb 20 of smooth-surfaced lumber.

Above the door may be added a curtain-clamping strip 21 (held by two-screws 23) for attaching a door-cover ing curtain or flap, if desired.

A hole 24 may be bored (or a screw eye inserted) at any desired location for attachment of a dog-chain.

The door is preferably offset from the center to increase the distance between the door and the unventilated parts of the house so that the dog may rest either closely to or remotely from the opening, depending upon the weather conditions.

M ode of assemblage The house sections can be assembled in a matter of several minutes. Any one of the wall panels is held uprightly by one hand of the assembler and an adjoining panel is then vertically lowered so that the tongue-andgroove corner connections slidably interlock. Next an other panel is lowered in the same manner. Lastly, the fourth wall-panel is lowered with both of its edges slidably interlocking with the two adjoining wall-panels to complete the wall assemblage. The roof-panels are then laid in place with their ridge flaps overlapped (as shown) and a single screw is inserted in the bore 25 of each rafter 15 and screwed into the wall panel behind the rafter to firmly hold the roof-panel in place. The uppermost flap of the roofing paper is then preferably cemented or nailed down to complete the assemblage.

It is to be understood that the forms of my invention herein shown and described, are to be taken as preferred examples of the same, and that various changes relative to the shape, size, material and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention, or the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

A prefabricated dog-house comprising: a roof-member, a front Wall-panel, a rear wall-panel, and two side wallpanels, each of said Wall-panels comprising vertically disposed stnds and horizontally disposed clapboards fixedly attached thereto, said wall-panels being detachably connected to form a rectangular floor plan by pairs of tongueand-groove connectors carried at and by their mating edges, each of said pairs of connectors comprising a vertical strip secured to the end of one Wall-panel and extending in overlapping relationship with the adjoining wall-panel, a stud of said first-mentioned panel being spaced from said strip a distance equal to the thickness of said adjoining panel so as to form a groove to snugly embrace the edge of said adjoining panel, a key-Way slot in at least one of said groove-forming members, and a key-forming strip on said adjoining panel slidable in said slot to lock the edge of said adjoining panel firmly in said groove, two of said wall-panels being considerably longer than the others to form an elongated rectangular floor plan, an entrance opening in one of said longer wall-panels located closely adjacent one edge thereof,

whereby to increase considerably the lateral extent of the sheltered space to one side of said opening, and said roof having an extension shelteringly overhanging said entrance opening and protruding by an amount of the order of half the shorter dimension of said dog-house.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 333,603 Cortright Jan. 5, 1886 816,164 Hipp -a Mar. 27, 1906 843,212 Holt Feb. 5, 1907 1,143,697 Gallant et a1. June 22, 1915 2,010,874 Matheny Aug. 13, 1935 2,296,413 Zell Sept. 22, 1942 2,410,221 Latura Oct. 29, 1946 2,445,055 Capaul July 13, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 12,966 Great Britain 1911 565,994 France Nov. 15, 1923 515,598 Great Britain Dec. 8, 1939 

